Dave Bakke: Husband's ashes laid to rest inside wind chimes

After Galyn Ruyle died, his wife put him in a tree, where he hangs around all day and makes beautiful music.

The State Journal-Register

Writer

Posted Sep. 28, 2008 at 12:01 AM
Updated Sep 28, 2008 at 4:46 AM

Posted Sep. 28, 2008 at 12:01 AM
Updated Sep 28, 2008 at 4:46 AM

After Galyn Ruyle died, his wife put him in a tree, where he hangs around all day and makes beautiful music.

Galyn, as colorful a person as the small Macoupin County town of Nilwood ever produced, would have liked reading that.

"He loved laughter and to make people laugh," says his widow, Donna. "He was good at it."

It is true, though. In death, Galyn really does hang from a tree and makes music from the Great Beyond.

Galyn was well known in central Illinois for several things, including living in a tipi now and then. He was a long-time author of letters to the editor, from which we learned: He did not see anything wrong with eating horsemeat, he was no fan of Jesse Jackson's and he was pro-Chief Illiniwek.

He and Donna were students of American Indian culture, hence the tipi. They set it up at their home and took it with them when they traveled the country at fairs, living history events and campgrounds near and far.

"It's hard to be angry and out of balance within a tipi," Donna once said. "We often sleep here at night. Anytime it's up, we sleep in it and our grandchildren will come and sleep in it. … I'd rather be in (the tipi) than my own house."

Galyn and Donna met when they were just kids. They were together for the last 30 years of Galyn's life. He died July 28 at the age of 68. He wanted to be cremated. At first, his instructions to Donna were for her to spread his ashes in Colorado.

"We both loved Colorado," Donna says. "I was to take him up on the Great Divide and give him back to the earth."

But when they attended a friend's wake, Galyn noticed wind chimes, and the plan changed at that moment.

"He talked to Bruce Barnes, a welder in Girard," says Donna. "At first, he was just going to make a cylinder to hold the ashes, but the dimensions wouldn't work. So Bruce made the whole thing."

What Bruce made were wind chimes with the chimes big enough to hold Galyn's ashes.

When the time comes, Donna plans to join her husband -- not in the same wind chime, since the cylinders aren't big enough for two -- but in a wind chime of her own. Her chimes will probably end up next to Galyn's in Nilwood, either at their home or at their grandson's home.

Bruce, who operates Bruce's Welding in Girard, says Galyn talked to him about a year ago to see if he would be willing. Bruce said he would do it. Galyn gave him detailed instructions. He wanted a star on the chimes and wanted them made a certain way. The tubes, Bruce says, are stainless steel sanitary tubes like restaurants use to dispense soda.

Page 2 of 2 - Galyn never got to see the finished chimes. They were completed on the day he died, but he trusted Bruce and knew it would be just right.

"I've known Galyn for 30 years," Bruce says. "He's just been Galyn. He was a good old boy. He was just a little different. That's what makes the world go 'round.

"After he died, they brought him by and we put him inside. Then we welded him up so he's permanently inside there. I live out toward his direction. I drive by him every day and look at his house and see him there."

The chimes are in a tree just outside Donna's window. It is comforting for her to hear them tinkling at night. It's as if Galyn is talking.

Donna pulled a chair up next to the wind chimes. Sometimes she sits there and talks to Galyn.

"He said he would have the last word," she says as the chimes tinkle lightly. "Death wasn't gonna shut him up."

Everybody has a story. The problem is that some of them are boring. If yours is not, contact Dave Bakke at 788-1541 or dave.bakke@sj-r.com. His column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.